Elden Ring: How to beat Margit the Fell Omen

Elden Ring is arguably the most accessible of FromSoftware’s action RPGs, but accessible doesn’t mean it isn’t hard. Margit the Fell Omen seems practically designed to ensure players understand that fact - as he’s one of the earliest bosses you’ll encounter in the game, but he’s absolutely rock solid to beat. 

You’ll actually be pointed to Margit very early on in your adventure; you choose your starting character class and keepsake gift, head out into the world, meet some key characters, get your horse, and then you’re encouraged to head up Stormhill towards Stormveil Castle. As you approach the castle, Margit awaits - and he brings a lot of players who think this game is significantly easier down to earth, and hard.

Margit is a particularly difficult boss - but on this page we’re going to help you to beat Margit by giving you some strategies for dealing with the powerful omen - including some secret items you can obtain to make matters much easier - and a way to temporarily skip the boss entirely.

Can you skip the Margit the Fell Omen Boss Battle?

So, here’s the interesting thing about Margit; while he’s a required boss to a certain degree, you can totally skip Margit, putting him off until later. Specifically, there’s a route around Stormveil Castle that bypasses Margit, as well as the entire legacy dungeon that is the castle itself and its boss, the lord Godrick the Grafted.

Here’s a visual map of how to skirt around Stormveil Castle, using ledges and jumping with Torrent to get behind the castle and reach the next area of the game:

Taking this route will lead you to Liurnia of the Lakes, the next area of the game. The ultimate goal in that area is to head to the Raya Lucaria Academy, a school of mages, where you’ll find the next boss. This is also the boss you need to beat in order to unlock the Elden Ring respec.

The natural route that Elden Ring clearly suggests you take isn’t to do things in this order, however - you’re supposed to beat Margit and enter Stormveil Castle, then head to Liurnia after beating that dungeon. Going to Liurnia early can be a great way to build up experience and resources to make Margit and the following dungeon easier, though. There's some side quests you can undertake in Liurnia like the tale of the Converted Towers and the Erudition gesture, for instance.

So, if you’re going to tackle Margit in the intended order, here’s how we think you can do it…

How to beat Margit the Fell Omen: Strategies & Tips

There are three primary ways in which you can make the Margit battle easier in Elden Ring, and we’re going to run them down one-by-one. They are as follows:

1. Exhausting Limgrave in order to gain lots of experience and equipment
2. Making sure you have access to good Spirit Ashes Summons and the Spirit Calling Bell to summon help during the fight
3. Obtaining specific items and weapons, especially Margit’s Shackle, a key item for weakening the Fell Omen

With those three noted, let’s talk about each of them in detail:

Exploring Limgrave & Leveling Up

So, first thing’s first, don’t underestimate the size of Limgrave, the starting area. It's a perfect early-game grind zone. In the area you start in, there’s a huge swathe of space directly around you, with many dungeons and enemies to battle that are more easily defeated than Margit. These dungeons can help you to gain the runes to gain the strength to beat this boss - and will also unlock great new equipment.

To the South of Limgrave there’s a different landmass that’s still part of the region - across a fortified bridge called the Bridge of Sacrifice. This leads to a number of areas, including some towns, dungeons, and Castle Morne - the latter of which has its own side quest and boss attached; it’s a perfect place to prepare yourself for what’s to come in Stormveil. 

Far to the east of Limgrave, you’ll notice a reddened zone. This is Caelid, a different area that’s home to a different Lord. While you can explore Caelid, it’s a higher level zone, so we wouldn’t really recommend going deep there. Instead, explore the entire Limgrave area in detail.

The point of Elden Ring’s open world is that you have freedom. Unlike other Souls-style games, if you get stuck on a boss - like Margit - you can turn around and go in a different direction! Do that. Explore. Build up your character. Find weapon upgrade materials, and upgrade your primary weapon to at least +3 using the smithing point in the Church of Elleh. Keep leveling up - focusing on whatever stats and attributes will give you higher damage output, plus Vigor to increase your health.

If you've managed to find one, you could pop a Rune Arc to get a temporary HP buff before going in, too - but this only lasts until you die, and is a consumable item.

On that topic of finding useful materials - let’s talk about the latter two points.

Getting the right Summons and Materials

One thing you need to make sure that you do is get the Spirit Calling Bell to unlock Spirit Ashes summons; these let you call on AI-controlled ghost characters that can join you in certain battles, including most bosses and this clash with Margit. 

We’ve got a separate page on how to unlock that feature, linked above, but once you do, you’ll want to consider which ghosts you summon. There’s a few you can get early on, like the Lone Wolf Ashes, that summon several AI allies who can help to hold Margit’s attention and keep him off you.

Alternatively, Margit is weak to poison. This can impact both your choice of summon and choice of weapons and materials. One Summon is offered by Roderika at the Stormhill Shack on Stormhill - just talk to her and exhaust her dialogue options - and that summon, the Spirit Jellyfish, deals out Poison Damage. 

With the above all noted, there is one key item you can get that’ll make the battle far, far easier…

How to get Margit’s Shackle to make the boss easy

Margit’s Shackle is a key item that is completely optional and missable - but it makes a big difference in the battle against Margit. How it works is simple: you can use the shackle twice during the first phase of the battle, and each time you use it, Margit gets locked down to the floor for several seconds. Using the shackle even interrupts Margit’s attacks, so you can pop it when he’s winding up a big one that you might not be able to escape in time.

Margit’s Shackle is well-hidden, but if you’re exploring the wider Limgrave area, you might come across it on your own. Otherwise, here's the cave where it's located on the map:

As you can see, you’ll need to head to Murkwater Cave, an absolutely tiny mini-dungeon that’s set into the cliff-edge of the ravine that leads down into the lake at the middle of Limgrave. This is down low, so you need to get into the lake itself (this is the same lake where a dragon spawns), and then head north, up the ravine, to find the entrance to the cave.

This is an area with a forced NPC invasion, so you’ll have to beat that red glowing NPC before you can enter the cave. Inside the cave there’s some bandits, and on a right-hand fork there’s a pathway that leads to a boss - Patches, a familiar face to FromSoftware fans.

Whatever you do, do not kill Patches in the ensuing fight. Instead, reduce his health to just under 50%, where he offers to surrender. Let that animation play out and the enemy defeated screen will appear. At this point, you can use Patches’ shop, which is home to some useful things.

You can buy Margit’s Shackle from Patches for 5000 Runes. It’s a canny investment - as it will have a second use beyond controlling Margit outside Stormveil Castle - but not until much later on in the game. It's worth noting that after a time, Patches disappears from this location - but if you keep exploring, you'll see him again...

Beating Margit the Fell Omen

With all of the above in mind, it’s time to head back to Stormhill and to the battle against what I consider Elden Ring’s first real boss, Margit the Fell Omen.

More experienced players might want to try to beat this fight ‘honestly’, without AI help - but for the purposes of this guide, which aims to help everyone through they ame, we’re going to suggest using every tool at your disposal.

In line with that, you might find a golden glowing summon icon right outside the boss zone door; this summons an NPC, Rodgier. Using Rodgier in this fight is useful, but also introduces you to him as an NPC that has side quests and storylines throughout much of Elden Ring.

Rodgier is a mage, and you can summon both him and an ashes spirit, which means there can be three or more of you battling Margit at once. This really splits his attention, and buys you valuable time to heal. In addition, all characters in Elden Ring have hidden stun gauges where if they suffer too many attacks at once, they get stunned, allowing for a critical hit. Multiple characters makes it easier to inflict this on Margit.

Our core advice is this: try to keep your friendly characters alive and as healthy as possible before phase 2 begins. Since the Shackle only works during Phase 1, use Margit's Shackle twice to lock Margit down and wail on him while he's immobilized. Remember that the shackle interrupts attack wind-ups - though also, try to hold it back until everyone is in a position to attack.

Phase 2 is more of a free-for-all, and Margit becomes more difficult to predict and nigh impossible to block. Instead, it’s all about dodging - and, in our opinion, blasting down Margit’s health as quickly as you can. Given his holy hammer will shatter any defenses, consider dropping the shield and using your weapon 2-handed, which grants a slight damage bonus.

That’s why you want your AI allies healthy before entering that phase - because then you can really beat him down quickly and effectively before you lose control of the situation.

With Margit beat, it’s onward to Stormveil Castle - which is no cakewalk, either. Stormveil is your route to your first Great Rune and Remembrance, however - well worth ythe effort. Good luck, Tarnished.